Dayton Daily News

WASHINGTON - Sen. George Voinovich told a room full of Dayton-area leaders Wednesday, April 30, that he will seek a seat on the Senate Appropriations Committee next year.

"If I can get that first appointment to the Senate Appropriations Committee, I will take it," he said, explaining afterward that he will pursue the seat only if he receives assurances that he will get it, rather than risk losing his alsocoveted spot on the Committee on Foreign Relations.

Voinovich, R-Ohio, lamented that the impending retirement of Rep. David Hobson, R-Springfield, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, will be to the detriment of the region, and said Sen. Mike DeWine's loss last year to Sen. Sherrod Brown was costly because of DeWine's spot on the committee, which doles out federal funds.

His comments came during the last day of the Dayton Development Coalition's 24th annual fly-in, a day that featured speeches from both U.S. senators from Ohio as well as U.S. Reps. John Boehner, RWest Chester, Mike Turner, R-Centerville, Hobson and Jim Jordan, R-Urbana.

In the House, Turner also plans on seeking a seat on the Appropriations Committee. Still, Hobson's re-tirement means some uncertainty for the coalition, which has relied on his seniority on the House Appropria-tions Committee to help secure earmarks for Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, redevelopment around the University of Dayton, and the cleanup of the former Mound nuclear site.

Hobson told the group that they should not count on many earmarks this year; he is skeptical that Con-gress will get any funding bills done in a presidential year when House Democrats and President Bush are at "loggerheads."

He also warned them that a crackdown on earmarks could endanger money that the community is used to receiving.

"There's going to be trouble in the Dayton region if they do away with earmarks," he said. "It's easy to beat up earmarks, but some things just wouldn't be done if it weren't for an earmark."

The fly-in this year included nearly 150 community, business and political leaders.

Lawmakers also struck a territorial note about Wright-Patterson, urging members of the coalition to be diligent about protecting the base's assets, particularly as the Air Force looks to find a headquarters for its newly created Cyberspace Command.

"We've got to make sure nobody steals what we have," Hobson said, saying that bases in other states have tried to take missions from Wright-Patt.

Ohio is among 18 states vying for the new mission. Hobson, Boehner and Turner wrote a letter to Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne March 5 touting Wright-Patterson as a location.

Boehner also said he felt that an effort by Huntsville to take on some of the missions of the National Air and Space Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson had been resolved.

"I made sure I talked to the president and the national security adviser, Secretary Gates and Gen. Maples, the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency to ensure that the nonsense going on was going to come to an end and it did come to an end," he said.

But Turner focused on the positive - the $230 million in construction that the base will see as a result of the 2005 base realignment and closure decisions, which will bring new aerospace and sensors missions to the base.

"This will be the largest construction project at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base since World War II," he said. "This is going to be historic. It's going to make a difference as it changes the trajectory of the base and its future."